What happened to the Squad Leader class or equivalent of?

[kaffis]

Originally Posted by Morphic

Wonder if the big death ray is gonna be the only squad WMD

In an interview, Higby mentioned that they want to do empire-themed "orbital strikes." Presumably, big laser from the sky for Vanu, massive cratering projectile for NC, hail of MIRV warheads or something for TR... or something like that.

Orbital strikes will cost resources to use, and might be restricted to only be used by squad leaders.

[SergeantNubins]

Higby did say that orbital strikes will be faction based - the traditional beam laserbeing the vanu, artillery for TR and he didnt elaborate on what the NC one was.

He also said they would cost resources to use.. but that the strike itself was customisable - area of effect, duration etc. The bigger the strike, the bigger the resource cost and it would come with a hefty cooldown.

[Sifer2]

I think it would make more sense as its own class as well. Just so they have a unique appearance, and you could aim for the officer to prevent squad spawns. How silly is it going to be to have an Infiltrator or Light Assault Squad leader getting into silly flanking positions, and calling down a team of Heavy Assaults/MAX's? Even worse if several squad leaders do this together.

I also agree that just using regular cert points to level it up seems wrong as well. I don't expect this to change though as I think its just part of their F2P model. You can earn points from doing anything an paying real money to unlock anything. Become a master pilot by sniping people. Become a Colonel by repairing a tank. Silly but that's how its set up now.

[kaffis]

Originally Posted by Sifer2

How silly is it going to be to have an Infiltrator or Light Assault Squad leader getting into silly flanking positions, and calling down a team of Heavy Assaults/MAX's?

Cooldown.

[Sifer2]

Originally Posted by kaffis

Cooldown.

So? 3 Light Assualt squad leaders hop on an important rooftop, and call down 30 MAX's with a few Engineers. Good luck getting them off of there. Maybe they wont allow MAX to drop via pod. Either way I can see letting any class type be SL causing some silliness.

[kaffis]

Originally Posted by Sifer2

So? 3 Light Assualt squad leaders hop on an important rooftop, and call down 30 MAX's with a few Engineers. Good luck getting them off of there. Maybe they wont allow MAX to drop via pod. Either way I can see letting any class type be SL causing some silliness.

No, 3 LA squad leaders hop on an important rooftop, and call 3 MAX's down. Everybody else notices, and kills all 6 of 'em with air strikes before the minute is out, let alone before the cooldown is expired and more can be called in.

The end.

Note that this can be done more efficiently with a precision Galaxy drop.

[Xyntech]

I wonder if we will be able to abuse squad spawning to have 9 command certed players spawn in on an infiltrator, then immediately switch back to their own individual squads and have 81 other players squad spawn in.

[kaffis]

Originally Posted by Xyntech

I wonder if we will be able to abuse squad spawning to have 9 command certed players spawn in on an infiltrator, then immediately switch back to their own individual squads and have 81 other players squad spawn in.

Oh, come on, Xyntech.. You're smarter than this.

[Xyntech]

Originally Posted by kaffis

Oh, come on, Xyntech.. You're smarter than this.

I know some easy ways to prevent it, but if they aren't in place at the start of beta it's going to be a lot of fun to try this.

It's not like we can't do it with 10 cloaked squad leaders instead of one, but a single one would be so much more fun.

I really hope MAXes can't squad spawn though. I think a restriction like that wouldl go a long way towards keeping Galaxy drops more useful. Heavy Assault and below should be fine though, even if you do have a ton of commanders all spawn their squads in at once.

[Dart]

It's simple; in PS1 they tried to ensure leaders would be competent.

In PS2 they will ensure leaders are dedicated.

Is this an improvement? I'm not sure. I lead my clan & Empire in PS1 but I also enjoyed fighting. I'm hoping that I'll be able to do both in PS2.

[kaffis]

I will say that I hope that, for a squad leader certed player, the act of squad spawning on his squad's current leader will trigger his own squad spawn timer, so you can't just shuffle squad leader positions around.

I give the devs credit enough to assume they've thought of this, though. That said, as you point out, if they haven't, we'll catch it quick.

[Dart]

Originally Posted by kaffis

I will say that I hope that, for a squad leader certed player, the act of squad spawning on his squad's current leader will trigger his own squad spawn timer, so you can't just shuffle squad leader positions around.

I give the devs credit enough to assume they've thought of this, though. That said, as you point out, if they haven't, we'll catch it quick.

I feel that squad-spawning should be a CERT whether you're SL or not. That way, if you have a squad of vets who've put the time in and prioritzed it over other certs; sure, they can all spawn on each other. It's another perk of customization.

[kaffis]

Originally Posted by Dart

I feel that squad-spawning should be a CERT whether you're SL or not. That way, if you have a squad of vets who've put the time in and prioritzed it over other certs; sure, they can all spawn on each other. It's another perk of customization.

Yes, it should be a cert. However, even if the whole squad has certed in it, doesn't mean it should be useable willy-nilly. Cooldowns. Useful for reinserting your medic if he dies, etc.

Not just "insta-squad, wherever I am!!!"

[Dart]

Looked like there was a flat 5 minute timer on it at E3. My point is it should not just be restricted to the sl.

[Dacrim]

If it were restricted to the squad leader i think it could add to the tactics involved in winning. Killing the leaders will be a higher priority than just killing the members